Field of the Disclosure
Embodiments of the disclosure relate in general to the field of computers and similar technologies, and in particular to software utilized in this field. Still more particularly, it provides a system, method, and computer-usable medium for the automated management of financial resources.
Description of the Related Art
Many consumers are challenged in the management of their financial resources. In particular, budgeting can be time-consuming, tedious, and often frustrating. To be effective, it typically involves keeping track of expenditures to an exacting level of detail. In addition, many budgeting solutions require the user to manually enter data related to their purchases. As a result, many consumers abandon attempts at budgeting before a benefit is realized. Current automated approaches to this issue involve using merchant codes to classify purchases. However, the broad categorizations of these approaches fail to delineate different classes of merchandise. As an example, a merchant code for a grocery retailer will fail to identify a purchase of office supplies, or as an extreme example, patio furniture.
Currently, manufacturers and service providers typically provide a unique identifier, often embodied as a Uniform Product Code (UPC) identifier, for the products or services they provide. Likewise, retailers, merchants, distributors, brokers, and other intermediaries commonly assign unique, and often proprietary, identifiers to these same products and services as Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) or European Article Number (EAN) identifiers. Known approaches cross-reference these manufacturer item identifiers and product item identifiers, but fail to cross-reference them to budget categories within a budget management system.
Today, it is becoming increasingly common for Level III data to be included in transaction item data. Level III data typically comprises a merchant identifier, a purchase amount excluding sales tax, a sales tax amount, a local tax indicator, a customer code, and line item detail information. Current Level III line item detail information also typically includes an item sequence number, an item commodity code, an item descriptor, an item product code, an item quantity, an item unit of measure, an item unit of cost, an item discount amount, a line item total, and a line item detail indicator. It is also typical for Level III data to comprise enhanced data related to a purchase item, such as a discount amount, a freight or shipping amount, a duty amount, and an order date. In addition, the enhanced data may likewise comprise a tracking number, a receipt date, an origin and destination name and address, and an item service description. However, this information is not currently available for import or cross-referencing to budget categories within a budget management system. As a result, users are unable to realize the benefits of automating the management of their financial resources.